September 2006

One last thought for the day

I love Alaska. Everything and everyone here has an interesting story. It's just amazing to be around the people who live in Anchorage and across the state, and listen to their stories. It's even more fun when the people I'm with are knitters, crocheters, and other types of fiber artists. All of the people are as friendly as I remembered from my last trip.

I don't want to move here, because I'm pretty sure I would suffer from severe depression in the dark winter, but I do want to come back regularly. I hope I get invited to Yarn Expo again, and I also want to come in berry picking season, rent a place with a kitchen, and make jars and jars of wild-berry jam. When I mentioned this idea at dinner yesterday, Susan, one of the students in my class (both classes, actually!), said that she'd be happy to take me out and show me some good areas for berry picking. What a generous place and people!

Day 3

Right now it's 7:42 PM (local time) of my fourth day in Anchorage, and I am just writing about day 3. But that's OK, I'll catch up on a day off before I come home.

I was "off" on Friday morning. The Knitted Rug class I was scheduled to teach started at 1:30 PM and went to 9:00, with a 90 minute dinner break. But I woke up early anyway, out of habit more than anything else, and went down to have breakfast in one of the classrooms. I happened to pick the classroom scheduled for an embroidery class and, after looking at the beautiful samples and the kit the instructor (Karen Bente) had prepared for the students, I asked if I could sit in on the class. Even though I hadn't paid the class fee or a kit fee, Karen very generously allowed me to stay and participate in the class.

Karen is the owner of Arctic Needle, a local needlework shop. She does beautiful embroidery work, and her shop carries a tons items for all kinds of embroidery. I hope we have time to stop by her shop before we leave. I used to do embroidery when I was a teenager, and I've been thinking about doing some a lot lately. I just bought a pair of jeans with embroidery on one hip and on one leg by the hem, and I really felt guilty for not embellishing a plain pair of jeans myself. (When I used to sew all of my own clothes in my teens and early 20s, I would have sewn the jeans, too!). But I didn't have the confidnce to start a project. In the class, we went over 9 embroidery stitches and practiced them on a pattern that Karen designed. Some of the stitches I'd done before, but others were new to me. It was a lot of fun, and I got some ideas for making embroidered felted purses, although I have no idea when I might have time to make them.

After Karen's class, we had a 90 minute lunch break and then I was on with a class on making an Amish Oval Rug, similar to the one I included in The Knitted Rug. The class went really well. All of the students has bought absolutely gorgeous yarn for their rugs, and were very excited about knitting a rug. The knitting in this class is very easy, basically just long strips of garter stitch, so in between the "lessons" about selvedge stitches, sewing seams, crocheting edges, knitting I-cord, and so forth, we had lots of time to chat as we knitted, knitted knitted. Everyone got the center and the first strip of their Amish Oval Rug finished in the class. Most also got the two pieces sewn together with beautiful results. This is one of my favorite classes to teach because it seems so simple, but everyone always learns something they didn't expect and leaves with a smile on their face, well on their way to having a beautiful rug to decorate their home or to give as a gift. By the end of the class, I always have a pile of swatches, yarn, supplies, and tools spread out everywhere.

More on Arctic Lace and the lace knitting workshop I taught later. All I'll say now is that it was full of surprises and I learned as much as the students! I'm a little buzzed and I have to do a slide show about the research and writing for Arctic Lace tomorrow. So I'd better get a good night's sleep.

The rest of day 2

Ok, so I owe an update of what happened yesterday and Thursday evening....

Before our dinner, we took a walk around the block to check into renting bikes in case we have a nice day with some free time before we leave. We also stopped into the two visitor centers (one with the rack of flyers and one that was a gift shop), and a government wildlife office. I forgot the exact name of it, but they had a stupid scanner like at an airport security checkpoint. What a load of fear mongering crap, as if some terrorist is just waiting to blow up a one-room wildlife exhibit in Alaska, housing stuffed musk ox, polar bear, and other local animals and a small gift shop. But I won't let politics spoil my trip.

After we left the wildlife place (which was very cool once you got past the bullshit entrance), we went around the corner and came upon a shop called One People: One World that sells all kinds of gifts and crafts from, well, around the world. We probably would have passed the shop by, if it weren't for a sign out front that said "Qiveut Connection." Of course, we could not ignore that! I remember visiting this shop on my 2004 trip. They carry qiviut items designed by Colleen White, who lives in Palmer, about 50 miles outside of Anchorage. While we were looking for the qiviut, we saw other knitted items that stole our attention.

First we saw some bright Peruvian knitting, including a couple of dolls, a chullo (hat) and a bolsa (purse). The purse looked exactly like one from Andean Folk Knits by Marcia Lewandowski. I wasn't really surprised, because Marcia based all of the projects in her book on actual items she saw and studied when she lived in South America for almost a decade. The dolls were also similar to doll-purses that are in Andean Folk Knits. We didn't get a picture of them, so I might have to walk back over there to do so on Monday or Tuesday.

On the bottom shelf of the same table, we saw some Russian shawls that looked very much like those from Orenburg except that they were in different colors, and the Orenburg shawls are traditionally in natural white. The labels were in Cyrillic writing, which I can't read at all, so I'm not sure exactly what region they are from, but they did have English tags that said "Russia". The prices ranged from about $30 to $70, which is an absolute steal. I had to wonder how much money the knitters received for their work, because these are definitely hand knit and they also look handspun, but I couldn't resist buying one even without knowing. The shawl I wanted didn't have a price, so I brought it up to the register to ask. Even the most expensive priced shawls were a steal for a handspun, handknitted item.

Here's the shawl I bought. It's amazing, isn't it? It's so light and airy. I am not even sure if it weighs an ounce. Certainly not more than 2 or 3. It's no perfect. You can see a few mishappen stitches along the border, that seem to have been distorted during blocking. But I can fix them. And for $24 and no sales tax (yes, you read that right), I really can't complain one iota. This shawl scratched my itch, and I think I'll be able to get out of Anchorage without buying the machine knitted $175 shawl I saw the other day... but only time will tell.

After we stopped drooling over our knitting discovery, we headed back to the hotel to meet up with Cathleen Hollingsworth and Debbie Radtke (the designer of the famous and amazing Fiber Trends felted hedge hog!). On our way to dinner (will we ever make it?), we stopped at Far North Yarn Shop to meet the owner and take a few minutes to look around. We didn't have even a quarter of the time we need to explore the shop, so we'll be going back on Mon or Tues and will post a full report with photos.

Dinner was great, at an organic restaurant that had lots of vegetarian entrees for Deb, as well as meatier entrees for the canivors among us. I actually had a vegetarian salad with tofu, because I figured we'd be fed too-heavy hotel food for a few days during the Yarn Expo. It was delicious, mainly because of the fabulout tarragon dressing that was made fresh at the restaurant. Along with the four of us who drove over together, several other teachers joined us with the rest of the Board members from the Alaska Yarn Council. This photo shows (from left to right) Catherine Hollingsworth, me, Kathleen Meggitt, and Debbie Radtke. (I have a photo with everyone, but it'd be so small on the blog that we just would look like pinheads....)

That's it for day 2. We slept great and on day 3 I started teaching.... I just stopped a couple of hours ago. Ate dinner, took a shower, and am sitting in the hotel lounge writing this and drinking Shiraz. I am not spell checking this, so blame any typos on exhaustion and the wine.

By the way, Deb is also posting some blog entries about our trip on her blog.

Day 2

Last night before dinner, Deb & I decided to take a walk around town to check out the bike rental shop (because we're sitting on our butts all week teaching classes, writing, and knitting!), and we stopped short in our tracks when we saw a sign that said "Qiveut Creations." I remembered the ship from my 2004 trip, so we went in side to see what knitting treasures we could find.... you'll have to wait until tomorrow for more details but below are a few tidbits to whet your appetite. Today has been a jam packed day, too.... starting yesterday at 4:30 PM:

• Took a walk

• Discovered a store selling qiviut products plus Russian lace shawls and Peruvian knitted items

• Went to dinner with the Alaska Yarn Council board and other teachers from the Expo

• Slept

• Had breakfast in the classroom where an embroidery class was going to take place and decided to stay for the class

• Taught the Amish Oval Rug class from 1:00 to 9:00 with a 90 minute dinner break

• Came back to the hotel room to check my email and then post this brief blog entry

Now I'm going to bed. I'll write a lot more about all of this tomorrow night, as well as about the lace workshop. I originally said I could only have 12 people in the lace class, but I think 4 or 5 more people have signed up over the last two days, and I said that was OK. It will be a lot of fun, especially since Arctic Lace was born here.

Check back tomorrow night for promised pictures and info. I teach from 9-4:30 tomorow, so I'll have the evening free and since I'm sure I'll be totally wiped out, I plan to be in this hotel room drinking wine and posting on this blog.

Day 1

So far our first day in Anchorage has been a lot of fun, even though the Yarn Expo doesn't start until tomorrow.

After finding a latte in the hotel coffee shop, Deb and I walked down the block to have breakfast, where I had a bagel with Alaska lox. A bagel and lox is my all time favorite breakfast, and the Alaska salmon has a different flavor than the Nova Scotia lox that is sold in most grocery stores around the country. It was saltier and tastier. I will probably not let myself get this for breakfast every day, but then again I might. It's not every day, after all, that I can have Alaska salmon on my bagel!

After breakfast we went to the Cook Inlet Book Company store, again down the block (everything in downtown Anchorage is down the block!). I'd gotten several books there on my 2004 research trip, and it's still best place around for finding books about Alaska. From hunting and fishing to politics to Native culture and cooking, it's all there. They even have a large section of out-of-print books about Alaska. They didn't have Arctic Lace in stock (yet!), and neither Deb nor I had been smart enough to carry a copy of the book or one of the post cards about the book with us, so we'll have to go back over there later on our trip to make sure they know about Arctic Lace. They did have a knitting section, so I'm sure they'll want to carry my book. I saw several books I want to read, but decided to wait until later in our trip to see if I still wanted them before I bought them. I haven't been reading much lately because I've been knitting a lot. (The books I have been reading are about knitting.) I usually don't read and knit a lot at the same time. Boy am I glad I waited and didn't buy any books because.....

We came back to the hotel because it was only 9:30 and the Oomingmak shop wasn't open yet. (They open at 10, and we planned to stop in and say hello.) As we were walking around in the hotel, we saw a pile of socks inside a shop window. They were all knitted with flower intarsia motifs. Not hand knitted, but still gorgeous. The colors were just amazing, ranging from muted pinks and mauves to bright oranges and greens. Of course we had to go in to take a closer look.

What I'm about to tell you will no doubt end up costing me a lot of money. Because the shop, named Siobhan's, is filled with the most gorgeous knitted garments designed by Solvieg Hisdal, the author of Poetry in Stitches. The clothing line comes from the Norwegian company, Oleana. The shop also has had some Poetry in Stitches knitting kits. Of course, Deb and I had to try things on. Deb found a sweater that looked great on her and fit like it was made for her. I saw a shawl and matching hat made out of alpaca that I just have to own. I probably will just get the shawl and forego the hat, because the prices are not inexpensive by any means. But the garments are simply gorgeous, and they are detailed perfectly. The sweater Deb tried on had ribbon trim around the neck and front bands, that set off the knitted patterning and framed the sweater.

The shawl I was fondling did nothing for the outfit I was wearing, and you can't really tell how gorgeous it is from this photo, so I when I go back down to the shop to buy it (they had several in stock, whew!), I will take some photos of the shawl in other colorways as well. I really can't afford to buy this shawl, because I am planning to buy one of the lace qiviut stoles from the Oomingmak knitters this week, but I don't know how much willpower I can muster up. I've been knitting shawls obsessively this year, and I just want to have a collection of them. They are like a baby's security blanket, so comfortable and cozy, and yet when you wear them, people think you are suave and sophisticated. OK, I am under no delusions that anyone will ever consider me suave or sophisticated, but they do add a little more panache to an outfit than a sweatshirt.

By the time we stopped fondling the knitting, it was past 10:00 so we headed back outside to walk over to the Co-op to say hi. Marie and Joyce were there. Joyce recognized me after a few seconds (I didn't have red hair in 2004, and she has long hair now), but Marie didn't recognize me at all with the red hair. Sigrun wasn't there yet, so we'll probably pop over again this afternoon to see her. Joyce was packing up bunches of nachaqs, scarves, hats, and headbands to take over to the Yarn Expo vendor area on Sunday, where we'll be signing Arctic Lace together.

 The co-op building looks different in this season. There were no flowers in bloom in April when we visited. Things were still buried in snow for the most part. Now the shop is surrounded by gorgeous orange and yellow blossoms. There are some new murals decorating the building, too, but I'll write more about them later. I don't want to spend my whole trip in the hotel room on the internet. I was going to do some work today, but I'm tired and I don't feel like it. I have some crochet swatches I need to do before we leave, but I'll have the 2nd and 3rd to do some of that, in between a bit of sight seeing.

Arrived in Anchorage

Good morning! It's 6:51 and pitch black outside here in Anchorage. Last night I flew to Anchorage with my editor, Deb Robson. We're both teaching at the Yarn Expo III conference this weekend. (Much more on that with photos and links throughout the weekend). The flight was 5 1/2 hours, and I slept through about 4 hours of it. Fortunately, I have the opposite problem of my husband, Dominic, who can't sleep on flights -- I can't stay awake. So it didn't really seem like being on a plane for almost 6 hours. Also, Deb and I both got isle seats, and I was the only person in my row, so I was able to stretch out quite a bit, which is always more relaxing that bumping elbows with a stranger.

At any rate, we got here and a local fiber enthusiast, Delma Myers and a North Carolina crochet teacher, Jean Blaine, picked us up at the airport in a Ford Explorer that could, luckily, hold all of our luggage! In the airport, a video about Anchorage was playing near the baggage carousel, and we saw Sigrun Robertson, the co-op director, several Oomingmak knitters, the musk ox farm, and wild musk oxen on the TV. Only in Alaska!

We are staying at The Hotel Captain Cook, which according to their website is the "only true luxury hotel in Anchorage." It certainly looked beautiful when we checked in last night. But we were so tired, we could barely figure out if we are staying 6 or 7 nights. Deb's reservation was for 7 nights and mine was for 6, even though we are flying home together. We're leaving on the 3rd, but we don't get home until the 4th because we have a redeye flight, which didn't help matters much. I figured we could go down to the front desk today and straighten things out if we got it wrong.

On the way to the hotel, Deb spotted the Oomingmak Co-op store. It kindof stands out in downtown Anchorage because it's in a tiny house surrounded by tall buildings. We didn't get a photo last night. The camera was buried in my bag, and it was dark and rainy. But here's a picture I took on my 2004 trip. The most fun part is the mural of musk oxen on the outside of the building. I suspect today we'll take a walk over and say hello to Sigrun and the others who are working in the ship.

Today is a free day. We don't start teaching until tomorrow. So we'll get to walk around downtown Anchorage (probably in the rain), and take in some local sights. I brought some work with me, too, so I'll be crocheting swatches to test the pattern stitches in a book I'm editing. It's nice to have the extra day, especially since our flight did not arrive until after midnight Denver time last night. I was originally planning to fly in on the 28th, for teaching on the 29th but Deb suggested that we come a day early. It was a good idea, I can already tell. Now we'll have a day to settle in before we have to get back to work. I'm sure it'll be fun, but I always get the feeling "why am I doing this" the day before I have a class to teach.

TAFN. I'll write more throughout the trip. I'll be online more than I should, because there's free wifi in our room and all over the hotel!